So, after a long time brewing over the decision, I went out and purchased an HD-DVD drive.... Here's what preceded my decision so you have a better understanding of my assumptions / objectives:

1) I purchased an Axiom Epic 60 home theater system paired with a Denon 3806 and a 60' Sony SXRD. Thanks for everyone's help in setting it up. What an amazing system.. I also happened to buy an Xbox 360 to support the wife's video game addiction. Oblivion IV: Elder Scrolls was a particularly difficult point in our marriage, I don't think we spoke for a month. I refuse to purchase Xbox online for fear of………………I digress

2) I'm an HD content whore. I rarely venture out of the 10 HD channels that in our cable package. Sports and nature shows are amazing in HD.

3) Upscaled DVDs don't cut it. Although 480p DVDs look ok, it isn’t the same after watching 1080i TV. I won't go into the 1080i / p discussion, I believe most people won't know the difference. My TV does not support it anyway.

4) Price: 200 bucks is all that the XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive set me back. That's a lot less than many CD burners that I've paid for in the past. 600 for the cheapest blue-ray (PS3) is a lot.

5) Technology: I really don't care about the storage capacity between the formats and blu-rays support for 1080p. My TV doesn’t support it anyway

6) Lots of chatter about HD sound formats (DTS / Dolby). My point of view is my Denon does not support the HD formats and Dolby digital 5.1 is just fine. The HD-DVD drive claims to support DTS, but I think it's BS since the XBox 360 does not. Looking for more information / opinions here.

7) Format risk: If I’ve chosen the “wrong” format, I’m only out 200 bucks. If blu-ray “wins” I’ll go out and buy a PS3 in another 18 months when the price gets to a reasonable amount (300 ish).

8) Netflix: I don’t have to invest in a potentially “dead” format, since I don’t buy many DVDs due to my monthly Netflix subscription. I was thoroughly surprised how many HD-DVD movies are out there. I think most studios are releasing in two formats until there’s a “winner”

Just my home theater thoughts for the day… any comments and opinions are greatly appreciated…..

Whatever makes you happy man. As you say, it sounds like the best choice for you. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the "format" war. Personally, I'd be happy to see dual players succeed so that no one is left in the cold for choosing the "wrong" format.

Now that blu-ray has started using the same codecs as hd-dvd, image quality is reported as being roughly identical. As will all formats being served over 1080p displays, we're now at the mercy of the originating source. If the studios give a crap it can look amazing, if they don't a subpar transfer is going to only look okay.

In either case, we're in the infancy of the new formats. I think that reflects in the movies that are being released with little or no add-ons included. It's like the old days of DVD

I have the PS3 and Xbox HD-DVD add-on. Personally so far I have been choosing to watch a HD-DVD over Blu-ray via my Netflix queue. I have the PS3 connected with HDMI(directly to the tv) and the Xbox with components through my reciever but I've seen better quality thus far with the HD-DVD. It could very well be the movie production as I've see huge variations in quality with both formats. Superman Returns on Blu-ray was a huge dissapointment.

My HD-DVD passes DTS over to my reciever. I play the Eagles Tour in Melbourne video disc in the Xbox HD-DVD player and my reciever decodes it as DTS. AMAZING sound!!

Out of necessity, I've been doing quite a bit of research on the HD / Loss-less sound formats. In a nutshell, HD is the only format that provides a Loss-less multichannel audio format. The new Sony BR player may be able to decode loss-less codecs on BR disks, but that's hard to confirm. There are not many on the streets yet so user comments are scarce.

If you can't stand to watch SD DVD's, then you should consider getting yourself another DVD player or an external video processor. The difference between HD and SD ran through my VP at 720P is not that great. I suspect that when I get a 1080P projector the difference will more noticeable, but it isn't at 720P.

Regardless of all that, I am enjoying HD DVD's. Not just the new releases, but what I enjoy most about it is the older movies that are getting transferred to HD. I watched Caddyshack the other night and it hasn't ever looked that good. My only gripe is that I'll soon be compelled to buy a BR player so that I can enjoy more films that the BR supporting studios use.

I universal HD / BR player would be nice.

Until then, HD players are not as expensive as one might think. The first gen players can be had for under $300 and the second gen players can be found for under $500.

I just bought a new Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD but I might exchange it for XA2 which does 1080P and has 5.1 analog outputs. This is my first HD DVD experience and I am blown away at PQ 1080i over component video has. SD DVD looks good at 480P put once I get my new TV and connect via HDMI it will upconvert SD to 1080i which should look amazing. I haven't played any CD so I wouldnt know how sound quality is for music but I bought the player for HD movies and I am more than pleased on this player.

The lossless stuff requires either HDMI or direct analog outs. But the analog outs only get you 5.1, not 7.1 (the Panasonic DMP-BD10 is supposed to have 7.1 analog outs).

I was lent a Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray player and some titles the other day to demo. I have been holding off to make a purchase because of the uncertainty in the formats. Without having my own experience, I was leaning HD-DVD early because it was ready for the market at realease, compared to the sub-par early Sony releases. Although Sony is looking to make a run now that their technology is catching up to the early promises.

I do think this player does a fine job in both picture and sound with the more recent titles I have seen (Corpse Bride, X-men 3). Load times are quick, but remote response time for certain functions like chapter skip, scan are slow (about 1 second delay). It has a very good build quality, all metal case, not plastic, and beautiful front. Others may prefer the Panasonic DMP-BD10 however, as it supports DVD-Audio and redbook CD formats, which this player does not.

I could certainly be happy with the picture and sound quality of the Sony, but before buying anything I would love to try a Toshiba XA2. I am not trying to recommend Blu-ray over HD-DVD or vice versa, just passing on what I've seen here. Unfortunately my projector limits me to 720p, but it does look great.

Quote:My HD-DVD passes DTS over to my reciever. I play the Eagles Tour in Melbourne video disc in the Xbox HD-DVD player and my reciever decodes it as DTS. AMAZING sound!!

Was that a DVD or HD DVD that played DTS? I'm very curious about getting a 360 and the HD DVD addon.

Personally Sony pissed me off how they went about creating blu-ray. It just didn't make any sense to me, its "advantages" over HD DVD are virtually meaningless. Yet it costs more so you know who will end up paying for it. That alone has me rooting for HD DVD.

I would be very suprised if blu-ray can pull through on top.HDVD by many articles that I've read is leading blu-ray by such a margin that blu-ray has already lost, now it's up to Sony as to how much more money they want to lose by prolonging the battle.Just another example of Sony botching another product release. They gave HDDVD to much lead time at half the price. The final nail in the coffin Imo was Microsoft getting the 360 HD DVD addon out before the Ps3 was in anyones hands, how many more households now have HD DVD because of this addon that previously may have waited out a format war.Blu-ray may eventually have better specs. but so did Beta.

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